Royal commission set up into Aus detention centre abuse

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced a royal commission following the release of shocking footage showing young people being mistreated at a detention centre.

The footage was shown on ABC's Four Corners programme at the former Don Dale detention facility in Berrimah, outside Darwin.

It shows one teenager, 17-year-old Dylan Voller, strapped to a restraint chair with his head covered.

It also includes footage of him being stripped, assaulted and mistreated. He was one of six children tear-gassed at the detention centre in 2014.

The report led the country's Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs to call for an independent inquiry into the treatment of youth at the Northern Territory centre.

The state's chief minister Adam Giles also said he was "shocked and disgusted" with the footage.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered a royal commission to be held in conjunction with the NT government.

"Like all Australians, I have been deeply shocked, shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment at the Don Dale Centre," he told ABC News.

"We will get to the bottom of what happened here. We want to know why there were inquiries into this centre which did not turn up the evidence and the information that we saw on Four Corners last night."

He said the commission should look into why and how the behaviour hadn't been uncovered until now.

It would "get to the bottom of it, and expose what occurred and expose the culture that allowed it to occur and allowed it to remain unrevealed for so long".

There had been investigations into the centre in the past, but none had turned up the footage which was aired by Four Corners.

Ms Triggs has welcomed the announcement, saying she's thankful for the "speedy reaction".